What's wrong with me? Why is it I avoid confrontation of any kind?

Maybe I just have a hard time defining the line that propels you to defend and stick up for yourself and what you believe in. Maybe I've just lost confidence in myself and the ability to believe what I think and feel is right. So I second guess myself. I can be convinced that the point I'm arguing is invalid. Give me any subject at all, I'll come up with my own conclusion and state reasons why I feel the way I do, and I guarantee 9 times out of 10, someone can convince me to change my views and opinions even if only slightly.

Maybe it was watching my mom fight with people during my childhood and how embarrassed I was... not for myself so much, but for her. While she was verbally berating the cashier or whoever, I would look at her and how mad she would get and how people around her would see her. Like a goddamn crazy woman I tell ya. And I think you lose a certain level of respect when you fly off the handle like that. People may fear you, but who wants that? You should want to be respected.

Meek and timid is no way to live, but how does one change that when they can't believe in themselves and when the people they need to believe in them, do anything but? When you're constantly shot down, chopped down, and having to constantly find the means to build yourself back up, this seems like an unattainable goal. A good analogy is what happens to an overweight drunk lady at the beach... here lemme help you...

In case you couldn't guess... I am the overweight drunk lady.

Verizon

So when you think "Verizon", you probably think "multi-million dollar company with high prices and bad customer service". And you probably think that with these millions in revenue each year, no expense would be spared in taking care of its employees.... well.... I present to you the water filter used for the entire yard that a lot of people do drink..

This filter, when freshly installed approximately 3 months ago, was brand new, it was a bright white. The filter is located in a completely enclosed plastic container and there is solid build-up at the bottom of the container. When was it changed previously? I don't know. Sometime before I started here 5 years ago, and we used to not be able to see the filter, just the layers of green mold around the contraption housing it.

On a side-note... it is July, in Hemet, and the ice machine to supply the yard with ice, has been very temperamental;  sometimes not working for weeks at a time. Went to Indio last week... same problem. So why is it that this conglomeration of a company that's making money hand-over-fist can't supply their employees with such basics as water and ice, especially in a desert climate?

....It's Tradition

The family I come from has/had no "family traditions".  I can't say why or how that never came to be, but I can say I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything... I don't feel slighted or like my family is disconnected from one another. I realize the point of family traditions is to get everyone together and feel a closeness and a bond with one another, but what happens when a tradition is too forced and it becomes more of a burden than it does fun and games? This creates arguments and breeds resentment and animosity towards the people we love. People get their feelings hurt and take it personally when their tradition isn't priority for everyone involved.
This is why you can't just 'make up' family traditions. Something you do as a family has to become tradition and just because an activity becomes tradition, doesn't mean you have to do it every year or every month or every holiday or special occasion. Keep it simple and keep it optional or don't keep it at all. Don't take the fun out of being in a close-knit family.